Discrimination Against Chinese Indonesian - Research Paper Example

Native Indonesians have been discriminating Chinese locals until today. However, efforts have been made to eliminate racism now. According to “dictionary.com”, the definition of racism is defined as a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others. Jealousy and pride are possible causes of the discrimination towards Chinese-Indonesians, although a democratic-based philosophical principles ‘Pancasila’ is being implemented to every Indonesian (Chang 155).

Chinese Indonesians have been discriminated against in Indonesia, and this should not happen. Discrimination from native Indonesians to Chinese Indonesians was and sometimes is still obvious, because although Chinese Indonesians are the minority, they dominate vital business and play a vital role in the country’s economy. Phillip Shenon, author of The Gazette, states that “The success of the Chinese is widely envied - and resented - in Indonesia, an archipelago of 180 million people and the fourth most populous nation on earth.

The average annual per capita income is about $600” (ProQuest). Jealousy arises as native people tend to be low-classed workers, while Chinese Indonesians are marked as a ‘high-classed’ society. . In fact, Chinese Indonesians have become the target of crime in Indonesia, because many native Indonesians have envied their success in financial, education, etc. Unlike in the United States and South Africa where racism is seen to manifest itself in terms of color, racism in Indonesia has gone beyond and has given rise to human right violations in the social, economic, political, legal, and cultural spheres of the society (Chang 152).

The policy of “divide and rule” which was endorsed by colonial rulers aimed at distorting peaceful coexistence of native Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians. In fact, this policy was later advanced by government led by Sukarno whereby legislation was passed by the government which prohibited Chinese from conducting business in the country side (Chang 153). In 1998, there was anti-Chinese Indonesians violence in some cities, including Solo. I was 4 years old at that time, and I didn’t really understand anything.

Apparently, the Asian financial crisis in May 1998 caused political turmoil in Indonesia; this led to anti-Chinese Indonesians riots. Greg Barton, author of Abdurrahman Wahid: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President, clarifies that “Further adding to this uncertainty was an outbreak of sudden episodes of violence in small towns in Central and East Java, mostly directed against the ethnic Chinese” (Barton 233). My whole family escaped to a safer place in Semarang. As Medy Loekito asserts in her poem titled“14 May 1998”, the riot was traumatizing and terrible, many cars were burnt on streets, and many Chinese Indonesians’ houses were burnt and destroyed as well.

The television was showing how a mountain of men screamed and cried as they were losing their loved ones, their valuable properties,